In honor of the I.H.S.A. celebrating the 29th Annual National Activities Week the Newton Press-Mentor is recognizing this with articles relating to the celebration. Wednesday was designated as I.H.S.A. Youth Health Awareness Day.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and its membership believe that interscholastic sports and fine arts activities promote citizenship and sportsmanship. They instill a sense of pride in community, teach lifelong lessons of teamwork and self-discipline and facilitate the physical and emotional development of our nation’s youth. According to a report published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, September 2000, it was reported that “nationwide, 62.4% of high school students reported participating on 1 or more school and/or non-school sports teams in the previous year.
The major conclusion drawn from the analyses performed in this study is that, in the most populous demographic subgroups of U.S. high school students, sports participation is associated with multiple positive health behaviors.
Sports programs may promote positive health behaviors and deter negative health behaviors by placing a premium on personal health and fitness as prerequisites to optimal sports performance.”
A study conducted by Boston University, and published in Adolescence, Winter 2001, reported on a survey of 1,115 Massachusetts high school students.
Survey results indicated that athletes were significantly less likely to use cocaine and psychedelics and less likely to smoke cigarettes.
Researchers writing in 2004 in the American Journal of Health Behavior conducted an examination of cross-sectional data from a nationally representative sample of high school students enrolled in public high schools in the U.S.
They showed that students participating in organized sports were 25 percent less likely to be current cigarette smokers.
